Confused Shaman

[Silverhawk]

Ok since this last set of bug fixes and the group xp capped I'm having trouble wondering what this class is for?

the base idea for the class I thought was aoe and crowd control
the crowd control works fine if you can get it off but here is the trouble there is no way to get it off and fight the mob in front of you so you get adds

your going to say hey you should not have been fighting there
but the class is ment to have adds and survive more so than anyother class with thier
aoe/stun which is about as good as tailslap since niether works long enough to make any mob even miss a beat they go on happly beating your brains in

with the multi mob = your evasion is gone that was put in how does a class that does not get bad armor do what thier designed to do?

and don't tell me you need to multiclass this does not help the situation and is just a work around

I have seen people draw lots of mobs as a cleric or as a warrior and happly go on beating one mob to death then work on the next these classes are designed for one on one is armor the only factor?

now before you start to bash or say i'm this or that.....please don't...just don't waste everyones time

Please give me ideas that work that are not multi classing or class bashing I don't want to get uber xp from multi mobs but then again I think it's dumb for this class to get wipped from mobs 1/2 the lvl or less

fully teched out lvl 80 Shaman

[HAG]

Now I am confused about what you wanted to say with your post ... [:S]

[Fireclaw]

Hi Silver!

Re multimob exp bonus:
One thing though, just because a cap was put on multi-mob exp doesn't mean that multi-mob killing is no longer useful. It should still be the fastest way to get exp, and the multimob bonus still results in up to twice the normal exp for each kill. So if you take on 30 mobs at the same time you end up with the same exp as if you had killed 60 one-on-one.

For 4 months after the game shipped there was no multi-mob exp bonus at all! Just because there was no such bonus didn't mean that multi-mob killing wasn't the way to go if you could pull it off.

Re Shaman:
Can't help you a whole lot with the specific uses for Shaman since I am not familiar with the class. however, I can say that if you are tanking lots of mobs armor and healing are VERY important. If you lack sufficient armor and heals to self-tank, and are not willling or able to multiclass other classes to high levels to compensate, and if your stuns, roots, snares and/or mezzes are insufficient for crowd control, then it seems most likely that your role is that of party nuker. Let a group member who is capable of tanking run around and aggro the mobs, then your job is to nuke the mobs en-mass to kill them. In such a fight the party nuker serves a very important role and generally ends up doing far more damage in the battle than any melee class that must handle one mob at a time.

[Sibbe]

i have no problem with my (not multiclassed) shaman. I am lvl 71 now, can take on single lvl 95 ogres and ice kwellan groups. Fighting mobs around my level is also very nice and intensive :), like shadow spider breeders-> got to keep 2 rooted and blast another one. One or two mistakes and i am dead, but thats the fun :)
even after patch that is

[gopher65]

Shaman is one of the most powerful classes in the game. But it is a little hard to play. If you are having trouble with the play style (I myself for instance have a great deal of trouble with warriors; I simply can't play them effectivly) you might want to switch to spiritist. It is similar to shaman, but you may like it better.

If you stick with shaman, a few things you need to remember:

1. Blight Spells - Debuffs are your friend. This is the mainstay of the Shaman class. You can debuff any mob so badly that it will sit down on the ground and whimper while you take your timecarving it to pieces with a spoon:P. Use them often and use them well.

2. Nature Spells - You have a huge number of stuns and roots from your nature line. If you are taking on more than 1 mob, root the extras and back away. Stun the mob you are tanking, and kill it. But remember to keep rooting the extras until you are finished with the mob you are killing. You would be amazed at how many people don't use their roots/patch of brambles spells. They are HIGHLY useful, and should be used often (they also have a very short recycle).

3. AoE spells- You have a few nicenature AoE spells, such as Lightening Storm, and Thunder. These spells do not share timers. Therefore, you can cast them in series (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). Thunder is one of the more useful spells you have.

4. Play your class - You are not a tank. Do not act like one. Do not move in and take on a mob with your weapon. Debuff it, stun it, then do what you want. But don't attempt to Hack & Slash it Warrior style. This will not work for you.

5. Heals - You have heals that come from your nature skill. Use them well.

6. Training Points - Make sure you use your training points effectively. Focus is a good place for a shaman to use TP. This will dramatically increase your %chance to hit mobs. Since you are a shaman, your main concern is HITTING mobs, not doing massive damage. Therefore, Power is notquite as important to you. I personally would put half my TP into focus, and divide the rest between Evasion, Magic Evasion, Nature, and Health. Since you are customizing your character, your choices will undoubtably be different than mine. But remember, with Blight (mainly debuffs)and Nature (mainly stuns)spells, it is most important simply to hit your target. So choose accordingly.

[Cylian Golas]

Shaman is one of the most powerful classes in the game. But it is a little hard to play. If you are having trouble with the play style (I myself for instance have a great deal of trouble with warriors; I simply can't play them effectivly) you might want to switch to spiritist. It is similar to shaman, but you may like it better.

If you stick with shaman, a few things you need to remember:

1. Blight Spells - Debuffs are your friend. This is the mainstay of the Shaman class. You can debuff any mob so badly that it will sit down on the ground and whimper while you take your timecarving it to pieces with a spoon[img]/Web/emoticons/emotion-4.gif[/img]. Use them often and use them well.

2. Nature Spells - You have a huge number of stuns and roots from your nature line. If you are taking on more than 1 mob, root the extras and back away. Stun the mob you are tanking, and kill it. But remember to keep rooting the extras until you are finished with the mob you are killing. You would be amazed at how many people don't use their roots/patch of brambles spells. They are HIGHLY useful, and should be used often (they also have a very short recycle).

3. AoE spells- You have a few nicenature AoE spells, such as Lightening Storm, and Thunder. These spells do not share timers. Therefore, you can cast them in series (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). Thunder is one of the more useful spells you have.

4. Play your class - You are not a tank. Do not act like one. Do not move in and take on a mob with your weapon. Debuff it, stun it, then do what you want. But don't attempt to Hack & Slash it Warrior style. This will not work for you.

5. Heals - You have heals that come from your nature skill. Use them well.

6. Training Points - Make sure you use your training points effectively. Focus is a good place for a shaman to use TP. This will dramatically increase your %chance to hit mobs. Since you are a shaman, your main concern is HITTING mobs, not doing massive damage. Therefore, Power is notquite as important to you. I personally would put half my TP into focus, and divide the rest between Evasion, Magic Evasion, Nature, and Health. Since you are customizing your character, your choices will undoubtably be different than mine. But remember, with Blight (mainly debuffs)and Nature (mainly stuns)spells, it is most important simply to hit your target. So choose accordingly.

Very nice post [Y]

Just remember when keeping multiple mobs rooted you will need to pull the mob you are focusing your attack on out of the way slightly so the aoe`s don`tbreak the roots. Also it is good to keep in mind that you don`t have to kill the mob in one go. If you find yourself low on health and in imminent danger of kissing the dirt then root it. As long as there are no DoT`s on the mob you can keep it rooted indefinitely and heal/buff yourself if necessary. Once you are done with the self preservation bit Thunder Cloud should have recycled and you can then hit it with that which gives you valuable seconds to reapply your debuffs to the mob and proceed with kicking it`s ****** again [;)]

[Cylian Golas]

Oh I forgot to add something about spells and techson the blight line. I can`t remember which exactly but you will find thatsome of the techs and spells are not compatible with some of the shaman abilities, they don`t stick:

Withered State and Ruin don`t go together as an example.

You will have to talk to someone in the know or play around with techs until you discover where these problems lie.

Tech your roots with range and shocking blast for pulling from a great distance. Tier V shocking blast teched with tier V range gives a casting range of 55 which is awesome for staying out of the way and pulling [;)]

[Kulamata]

Really excellent advice in some of the posts above. I'd just add that multiclassing healer works well; Shaman can use all, or nearly all, of the healing spells. (Otherwise the nature skill allows the Revit, res, groups, but not Major/minor/Health group). And multiclassing with spiritist, despite the blight overlap, gives spirit bolt, so useful after Harden Shell. The DoT spells are not terribly dramatic, but they do add up impressively. But they take time to work, so an emphasis on healing is important. As a 93 shaman I am wearing mith chainmail (AU from Ranger) which is not shabby armor. Not tank level, but very good.

As Krald long ago pointed out, (he addressed Ranger, but his advice applied to all the nature group of schools) use everything. Shocking Blast is great, roots are important, and although thunder(or is it thunder cloud) is only a 2 second crowd stun it helps, etc. etc. Corrosive Rain is an area spell, and Patch of bramble is nominally an area spell too. Lightning is not terribly strong, but it cycles a bit faster than some other repeaters.

[gopher65]

Nature skill allows only Rev and improved rev. It DOES NOT allow Group heals, or ressurections, or the health line.

[Sajid]

Shamen are one of the strongest classes:

1) Wears Ring/Chain
2) Nature stuns (Shock blast, Thunder Cloud - Tiers on diff timers and no dmg interrupt)
3) AoE (Light Storm, Thunder - Tiers on diff timers)
4) Aug/Heals
5) Detox Self, Detox Other, Detox Group
6) 800 power statistic
7) Expulse (instant debuff for any mob with super fast recycle)
8) Dark Cyclone
9) Ruin/Decay can pull single Mob off a stack of mobs with no aggro - unless the mobs are linked and sometimes you are still ok
10) Root (tech with range) and crowd control your adds
11) Patch of Bramble - AoE Root

If you choose to multi-class as healer:
1) Use the same armor
2) Use 100% of all nature spells (Stuns, AoE, Bolts, Buffs) as healer
3) Use 100% of all life spells as Shamen (6 Heals -4 additional, Mystic Blaze, LIfe buffs, Rez)

There are many classes that can be tough to play. Shamen is not one of them. It is one of the single classes that can play just fine if not better than any other class. They are self-buffin, self-healing, crowd controllin Batmen with amazing utility belts.

Blight spells are good T1 - T3, but cease to be of any value T4 - T5.

[Cylian Golas]

Shamen are one of the strongest classes:

1) Wears Ring/Chain
2) Nature stuns (Shock blast, Thunder Cloud - Tiers on diff timers and no dmg interrupt)
3) AoE (Light Storm, Thunder - Tiers on diff timers)
4) Aug/Heals
5) Detox Self, Detox Other, Detox Group
6) 800 power statistic
7) Expulse (instant debuff for any mob with super fast recycle)
8) Dark Cyclone
9) Ruin/Decay can pull single Mob off a stack of mobs with no aggro - unless the mobs are linked and sometimes you are still ok
10) Root (tech with range) and crowd control your adds
11) Patch of Bramble - AoE Root

If you choose to multi-class as healer:
1) Use the same armor
2) Use 100% of all nature spells (Stuns, AoE, Bolts, Buffs) as healer
3) Use 100% of all life spells as Shamen (6 Heals -4 additional, Mystic Blaze, LIfe buffs, Rez)

There are many classes that can be tough to play. Shamen is not one of them. It is one of the single classes that can play just fine if not better than any other class. They are self-buffin, self-healing, crowd controllin Batmen with amazing utility belts.

Blight spells are good T1 - T3, but cease to be of any value T4 - T5.

1. Thunder is also a stun.
2. Some aoe`s you missed are Corrosive Rain, Curse of Enfeeblement, Shaman`s Chant.

Blight spells are good through tier V also. just decide which ones are of most use to you. I recommend Rust and Dispell especially.

If the mobs are linked then pull one and you pull them all.

[Silverhawk]

Thanx for all the input unfortantly this does not shed light to the present sitation ingame which is you can solo a 3 mob pull before this last fix patch...same mobs after patch leave you in the dirt? ......now is the basis to do solo one on one mobs only? this is boring and I might as well go to spirit like all the other multi classers

[Fireclaw]

Thanx for all the input unfortantly this does not shed light to the present sitation ingame which is you can solo a 3 mob pull before this last fix patch...same mobs after patch leave you in the dirt? ......now is the basis to do solo one on one mobs only? this is boring and I might as well go to spirit like all the other multi classers

The last patch apparently messed up healing in combat. Apparently a dev posted that now healing doesn't always work while in combat. As a temporary workaround, the dev recommended activating freemovement.

[Silverhawk]

As a Shaman I have always used freemovement otherwise you never see the second mob to use crowd control on ;) thanx fire for trying ;)

[Sibbe]

i will do some extensive research tonight, beware mobs!

btw i put all tps in power and nature, nature for hitting mobs (current at 1050 at lvl 71, i rarely miss, only on high level mobs) and power for the extra damage, i also have everything teched power/nature

[Sibbe]

well, i managed to take out 3 kwellan groups at once, 16 mobs total
gnome prowess on, cast only aoe spells, 1x detox/imp rev IV/rev IV/inst heal
there was only a slight delay on the health bar updating but no further problems

i didnt get to try a high rating mob because it was guild plot building evening